I went to harvest Galina tomatoes (cherry type, yellow, low acidity) for my dinner a couple of evenings ago and found myself immersed in a sea of buzzing creatures busily going about their business and pollinating all the blooms while they were at it. Hundreds of wild beasties hovered about me and not a single one attacked me. Lots of small wild bees and other bee-like creatures formed a surreal cloud of life and it gladdened my heart that my garden, imperfect as it is, allows them to feed and live their short but so important lives.
Over and out.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Lessons learned
With Summer well upon us, I find myself with precious little time to blog. This deficiency however, does not mean that things are quiet in the garden. Oh no! Early June brought a list of bad news and new lessons to this semi-novice grower of plants.
First, the garden I had planned and the garden that came into being are two very different enterprises. The advent of my new dog forced me to change my plans midstream and to direct my efforts to mostly futile attempts to keep my puppy from destroying all growing things.
With that said, I allowed grass to grow in my onion and garlic bed which caused poor ventilation conditions. I believe this is the reason why my onions developed what I believe to be Fusarium Basal Rot. I should have taken pictures but I did not so all I can do is describe what happened to my onions. All the onions with the exposed tops appeared to have been eaten from outside in leaving hollow bulbs for me to harvest.
I will blame the grass for competing with the garlic for moisture which resulted in very small garlic bulbs.
The last thing that happened to my onions and garlic was an unintended assault by my puppy Lexie. In her efforts to get a squirrel inside the fenced area, she ran at bullet speed (witnessed by my stay-at-home neighbor)and jumped the fence landing squarely on the garlic and onions, leaving a definite dog-shaped crater in the middle of it.
So I find myself planning next year's vegetable operation already while I harvest peppers, tomatoes, butternut squash, and cucumbers.
Oh, and the weather has been hot and humid leading to blight on a couple of my tomatoes (not my hanging tomatoes which are healthy as a horse though a bit small)
I hope to return to blogging regularly with pictures.
Over and out.
First, the garden I had planned and the garden that came into being are two very different enterprises. The advent of my new dog forced me to change my plans midstream and to direct my efforts to mostly futile attempts to keep my puppy from destroying all growing things.
With that said, I allowed grass to grow in my onion and garlic bed which caused poor ventilation conditions. I believe this is the reason why my onions developed what I believe to be Fusarium Basal Rot. I should have taken pictures but I did not so all I can do is describe what happened to my onions. All the onions with the exposed tops appeared to have been eaten from outside in leaving hollow bulbs for me to harvest.
I will blame the grass for competing with the garlic for moisture which resulted in very small garlic bulbs.
The last thing that happened to my onions and garlic was an unintended assault by my puppy Lexie. In her efforts to get a squirrel inside the fenced area, she ran at bullet speed (witnessed by my stay-at-home neighbor)and jumped the fence landing squarely on the garlic and onions, leaving a definite dog-shaped crater in the middle of it.
So I find myself planning next year's vegetable operation already while I harvest peppers, tomatoes, butternut squash, and cucumbers.
Oh, and the weather has been hot and humid leading to blight on a couple of my tomatoes (not my hanging tomatoes which are healthy as a horse though a bit small)
I hope to return to blogging regularly with pictures.
Over and out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
